According to a report by Battlefy, one of the most successful eSports tournament organisers, the number of eSports tournaments a year have increased five-fold since 2011 – and is
expected to reach nearly 50,000 tournaments in 2014. The report also stated that the top five most played eSports games in 2013 were League of Legends, Dota 2, FIFA, StarCraft 2 and Pokemon. What I however found most interesting is that League of Legends topped Dota 2 in tournaments played, and according to Jason Xu, CEO of Battlefy, League of Legends could attract as much as "a million participants in 2015.”

Let's take a look at the actual figures:

Top 10 Games in eSports Tournaments in 2013

Game

Tournaments

Players

1. League of
Legends

7,565

578,730

2. Dota 2

5,012

327,090

3. FIFA (Series)

4,919

68,604

4. Pokemon (Total
franchise)

3,604

50,403

5. StarCraft
2

3,104

39,067

6. Call of Duty
(Series)

2,263

63,988

7. Counter Strike

1,411

68,155

8. Street Fighter (Series)

656

9,456

9. Battlefield
(Series)

226

13,146

10. World of
Tanks

195

14,448

Tournaments Comparison 2011 - 2014

2011:

8,809

2012:

18,686

2013:

33,636

The only thing lacking in the report is the actual prize pools, and there Dota 2 would be the king. One thing we all do agree on is that eSports is growing at a rapid rate on all fronts - participants, spectators and revenue. I just wish South Africa could at least boast having one professional eSports athlete. Why do you think we are struggling to make our mark when it comes to having full-time cyber athletes?